Kukla's Korner Hockey

Category: Anaheim-Ducks

‘‘Scott has indicated that he’s thinking about retirement,’’ Ducks GM Brian Burke told The Canadian Press on Tuesday.
The Conn Smythe Trophy winner as playoff MVP informed Burke of the possibility during the players’ exit interviews a few days after Anaheim won its championship.
Niedermayer confirmed the rumours of his possible retirement in an ESPN.com story Monday and said he wasn’t leaning either way.

‘‘I think every player, as they get older, begins to think about how much longer they’re going to play,’’ Niedermayer told the website. ‘‘I know I think about it.’‘

more... this should not come as any shock to regular KK readers, this was discussed on June 8th…

added 4:22pm, from Eric Duhatschek of the Globe and Mail,

If the Ducks lose Niedermayer and Teemu Selanne, who is also considering retirement, and if goaltender J.S. Giguere departs as an unrestricted free agent, then they could be just a shadow of themselves when the season resumes again in October….
Once upon a time, it was only the losers that paid this sort of heavy price. Now, even the winners and the teams that come close can’t dwell too long on their successes. Next year is just around the corner and depending upon what Niedermayer and Selanne decide to do about their futures, things could be anything but ducky for the defending Stanley Cup champions when September comes.

“It’s like running face-first into a celebrity,” said Mike Bolt, who works for the Hockey Hall of Fame and currently is accompanying the trophy. “This is still the best part of the job — the reactions.”
Some people rejoiced Saturday and others recoiled. Stanley stopped traffic and started paparazzi. He touched many while even more touched him.
The Stanley Cup certainly is a pop star, like Prince. Only taller.
“Dude, I’m standing next to the Cup right now!” Patrick McGaughan shouted into his cell phone. “Dude, I’m touching the Cup right now! This is insane!”
McGaughan, a surfer who lives in Aliso Viejo, came here to check out the waves. He ended up taking a completely different sort of ride.
Stanley was photographed standing atop the lifeguard tower at San Clemente Pier, reclining in a lounge chair on Laguna Beach and riding the carousel at Fashion Island.

The U.S. Postal Service and Anaheim Ducks announced today that the world’s largest mail carrier is honoring the 2007 Stanley Cup champions by issuing a Stanley Cup postmark and two pictorial envelopes. The commemorative items will be available at all Anaheim Post Offices beginning Monday, June 18.

The Anaheim Ducks announced today that the National Hockey League (NHL) club has signed head coach Randy Carlyle to a one-year contract extension. He is now under contract with the Ducks through the end of the 2008-09 season.
“Randy has been the perfect fit for this organization with his hard-working, aggressive style,” said Executive Vice President and General Manager Brian Burke. “He has been a major factor in the success we’ve had the past two seasons.”

In order to win with consistency in these times, you must have a creative and smart GM (Brian Burke is as good as it gets), a hard, but fair coaching staff (Randy Carlyle and his staff of Dave Farrish and Newell Brown are all of that), and plenty of good young players (Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry, Dustin Penner, Travis Moen; you can add Bobby Ryan and Brendan Mikkelson to the mix).
It does not hurt that the Ducks also have top defensemen like Chris Pronger, Scott Niedermayer and Francois Beauchemin locked into contracts that make sense.
Maybe the San Jose Sharks or the Detroit Red Wings will be able to challenge them in the West, or maybe the Vancouver Canucks can add some more offense to push the Ducks, or perhaps the Calgary Flames can be more consistent.

Thank heavens the Ducks are wearing their jerseys and carrying the Stanley Cup when they arrive at Mattel Children’s Hospital at UCLA. The Cup, after all, really is a celebrity.
Pictures are taken, autographs given, pucks passed out and the first player to run into Austin is Chris Pronger. Doctors and nurses are on alert in case Pronger checks the kid into the chalkboard.
The kid and the hockey player bond. They both have bushy blond hair, and Pronger, with two kids of his own, makes like he now has a third. Austin tells Pronger he knows the score of the final game. Pronger has been celebrating for five straight days, and it’s unclear whether he’s joking when he asks later what day it is.
“I look at these parents,” Pronger says, “and I see the pain on their faces. You know they’d rather have it happening to them than their kids, but maybe a five-minute break or distraction can help.”

Fans snapped up Anaheim Ducks merchandise at an NHL-record rate during the team’s Game 5 clinching Stanley Cup victory over the Ottawa Senators.
Fans spent an average of $24.70 each buying souvenirs during Game 5 last week.
That was up 45.3 percent or $9.70 over the previous record of $17 set during Game 5 of the 2002 finals between Detroit and Carolina.

About a hundred family members streamed from the dressing room and into a holding area beside the ice.
After the players got their turn to hoist the Cup over their heads, many skated to the holding area and searched for their families like passengers coming off a plane at the airport.
Selanne, for one, found his wife and clutched her tightly, dropping his bearded mug onto her shoulder, whispering sentiments into her ear and crying against her cheek.
Giguere found wife, Kristen, and before night’s end, grabbed his son, Maxime, to set the infant in the cradle of the Stanley Cup for a photo.
Players’ families have been occasional extras on the baseball and basketball championship scene but were major supporting actors when the Ducks’ celebrated their crowning achievement.

On Thursday night, Jean-Sebastien Giguere, Chris Pronger and Brad May were returning from their appearance on NBC’s “Tonight Show” with the Cup, when one of them had to find a restroom. The limo driver stopped at Denny’s, and two hockey fans happened to be going into the restaurant.
“Jigger and Pronger get out, and the fans say, ‘No way!’ ” Ducks publicist Alex Gilchrist recalled. “The one guy peeks in and says, ‘No. That’s not the Stanley Cup, is it?’
“And Jigger takes it out and says, ‘Here.’ “
Whoever they are, they’ll be dining out on that moment for years.
“That was pretty cool,” Giguere said.